Traction carriage for cable railway

ABSTRACT

A traction carriage for a cable railway having a traction cable off-set from the centre line of the track has two track-engaging trolleys connected by a beam which extends longitudinally of the track. A boom projects laterally from the beam adjacent to one trolley and a traction arm is pivotally mounted on the boom for movement relative thereto about a vertical axis which extends through the traction cable. The traction arm is connected to the cable and is so linked with the adjacent trolley that the portion of cable to which the traction arm is connected is maintained parallel to the centre line of the track.

United States Patent 1191 1111 3,839,968 Kolk et al. Oct. 8, 1974 TRACTION CARRIAGE FOR CABLE 2,958,743 11/1960 Moore 105/152 x RAILWAY 3,049,083 8/1962 Potter et al. 105/156 3,495,720 2/1970 Mann et al 105/156 X [75] Inventors: Theodor Kolk, Datteln; Wilhelm grggz waltrop both of Primary Examiner--Lloyd L. King Assistant Examiner-Randolph A. Reese [73] Ass1gnee: Becorit Grubenausbau Gmbl'l, Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Spencer & Kaye Recklinghausen, Germany [21] Appl' 363405 A traction carriage for a cable railway having a traction cable off-set from the centre line of the track has 1 [30] Foreign Application Priority Data two track-engaging trolleys connected by a beam June 2, 1972 Germany 2226975 which extends longitudinally 0f track- A boom projects laterally from the beam adjacent to one trol- 52 US. (:1. 104/173 R, 105/156 ley and a traction arm is Pivotally mounted on the [51] lm. c1 B6lb 9/00 boom for movomom roloovo thororo about o vooiool 53 Field f Search"; 04 173 R, 5 72 R, axis which extends through the traction cable. The 104/172 S, 172 C, 178, 189, 89, 193; traction arm is connected to the cable and is so linked 105 5 14 152 with the adjacent trolley that the portion of cable to which the traction arm is connected is maintained par- 5 References Cited allel to the centre line of the track.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 876,486 l/l908 Pfaffenbach l05/l52 X TRACTION CARRIAGE FOR CABLE RAILWAY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention concerns a traction carriage for use in a railway having a traction cable or the like which is offset from the centreline of the track, said carriage having two track-engaging trolleys mounted for rotation about vertical axes on an interconnecting beam which extends in the direction of travel and, in some cases, being slightly tiltable on said axes, the carriage being connected with a laterally projecting traction arm whereof the outer end is secured to the traction cable in such a manner as to maintain the latter in spaced relationship with the longitudinal axis of the carriage.

The traction carriages of suspension railways and floor mounted railways which are drawn by traction elements offset from the centreline of the track, exert comparatively strong forces on the rails owing to the high traction forces to which they are subjected which may cause bending deformation of the rail in the horizontal plane. For this reason it is generally desirable to space the track-engaging trolleys of the carriages as widely apart as possible in order to keep down the mag nitude of the forces transmitted to the rail.

In the past, such carriages have also been made with three trolleys. In such a construction the central trolley was mounted on the connecting beam of the carriage, which extends in the direction of travel, in a manner which permitted lateral sliding displacement in a horizontal plane but did not permit rotation. In this known type of carriage the traction arm is secured rigidly to the central trolley. However, such carriages with three trolleys have the general disadvantage that there are transmitted to the rail extremely strong forces which act in a vertical plane in the direction of the length of the rail, unless the longitudinal axis of the traction element lies in the same horizontal plane as the railcentre.

Considerable forces in a vertical plane longitudinally of the rail may also arise, even when the axis of the traction means coincides approximately with the horizontal plane containing the centre of the rail, owing to connection of the traction carriage to the drawn load at a level below said horizontal plane. The communicating beam of the three-trolley carriage cannot transmit vertical components of force from the middle trolley to the end trolleys because the carriage has to be flexible in the vertical plane in order to allow it to be driven through depressions or valleys and over humps along the track. In other words, carriages with three track-engaging trolleys are not very suitable for use in cases where strong traction forces are liable to arise in the traction element and heavy drawn loads are involved.

In the case of carriages with two trolleys, the chief difficulty arises from the fact that for an even distribution of the stresses arising from the traction force of the traction element to both of the trolleys the traction arm would have to be secured to the connecting beam rather than to one of the trolleys. Moreover, in order to permit the traction arm to pass through traction element guides arranged laterally of the rail in regions where the track bends around corners, the traction arm would also have to be secured to said connecting beam in the immediate vicinity of one of the trolleys. Otherwise the arm would follow a path too near to the centre of a curve in the track when passing along such track portion. It is true that when passing along curved track sections the two trolleys of the carriage may adapt to the radius of the curve by rotation about their vertical axes. However, a traction arm secured to the connecting beam would always occupy a position determined by the prevailing position of said connecting beam. This would mean that on travelling through curved track portions a blade of the traction arm, with which the traction element engages, could not follow the actual course of the curve or the course of the traction element guided by suitable guide means along such curving track portions, and this would be more and more impossible with increasing constructional length of the said connecting beam. This would produce sharp angle bending of the traction element at the points where this engages with the traction arm blade, leading to difficulties during the passage of said blade through the guide means provided in the curved track region. Consequently, with carriages having two track engaging trolleys and of comparatively great length the traction arm cannot be secured to the connection beam as this would interfere with the cornering ability of the traction arm and blade, much as this would otherwise be desirable with a view to achieving the desired force distribution conditions.

It is therefore an object of this invention to improve the two-trolley carriage of the kind referred to in such a way that the traction arm may be connected or secured to the connecting beam of the carriage without giving rise to any difiiculties when passing along radiused track portions, notwithstanding that the carriage may have a relatively great length.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a traction carriage for a railway drawn by a traction element which is offset from the centreline of the track has two track engaging trolleys mounted for rotation about vertical axes on a connecting beam which extends in the direction of travel, a boom which is rigidly connected to the connecting beam and situated adjacent to one of the trolleys, and a traction arm mounted on the boom and rotatable, relative thereto, about a vertical axis which extends through the traction element, the traction arm being so connected to the traction element as to maintain the latter spaced from the longitudinal axis of the carriage.

By virtue of the rotatable mounting of the traction arm proposed by this invention the traction arm is capable of assuming correctly adjusted positions to ensure that its blade and the portion of the traction element secured thereto can freely follow the actual radius of any curve along the track. Since the axis of rotation about which the traction arm is rotatable extends through the traction element the traction arm cannot be subjected to any rotary or torque loads applied to its axis of rotation by the traction force of the traction means. The rotary adjustment of the traction arm is caused by forces transmitted from the traction element guides to the traction element and blade.

This invention makes it possible for the first time to construct a traction carriage for a cable railway with two trolleys and a traction arm engaging with an interconnecting beam of any desired length to afford a better way of transmitting to the rail the moments applied to the carriage due to the eccentric force transmission thereto. The constructional length of the carriage, that is to say the distance between the two trolleys thereof, is now no longer limited by any resulting reduced ability of the traction arm to pass through curving track portions. On the contrary, the distance between the trolleys of the carriage is limited now only by the straying of the centre of the connecting beam towards the centre of the track curve, that is to say by the clearance at the side of the track along the curving section thereof. Since the trolleys may be not only rotatable on their vertical pivots but also may have a limited amount of tiltability thereon, the ability of the carriage to pass freely through depressions and over humps will be limited only by the fact that with excessively long connecting beams these might hit against the roof or floor of the passage containing the track. This disadvantage could possibly be reduced further by providing the connecting beams with appropriately cranked formations.

Morever, as compared with three-trolley carriages, the carriages according to the present invention have the advantage that the forces arising in the vertical plane extending in the direction of the length of the rail are also comparatively small. Whilst in the case of three trolley carriages these forces must be transmitted to the rail solely by the central trolley, such force transmission occurs in the present case through both trolleys and these are widely spaced apart. In the transmission of forces acting in this plane to the rail the vertical distance between the point of application of force by the traction element, or by the drawn load, and the rail centre line is no longer of any importance at all.

In a particularly preferred execution of this invention, motion-transmitting means are provided between the pivotable traction arm and the adjacent trackengaging trolley of the carriage, to pivot the traction arm, when passing through curves, in such a way that the traction element portion secured thereto will always extend parallel with the longitudinal axis of said adjacent trolley. These motion-transmitting means thus cause the prevailing pivotal position of the traction arm to be guided smoothly and correctly by the adjacent track unit. In other words, in this case it is no longer necessary for the traction arm to be rotated by the forces arising as the traction element enters the traction element guides.

Conveniently the traction arm is connected rigidly to a traction arm-supporting member which is mounted for rotation about a vertical pivot at the outer end of the laterally projecting boom, the motion-transmitting means which provide parallel guidance being provided between the end of the traction arm-supporting member nearest to the adjacent trolley and a laterally projecting extension lug on the adjacent trolley.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG; 1 is a plan view of a traction carriage in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 2 is a section on the line IIII of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an alternative form of traction carriage in accordance with the invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a traction carriage for a suspended mono-rail cable railway. The track of this railway is of I-section rail and is indicated in FIG. 2 by the reference 1. Along the lower flanges and the web of this rail run two trolleys of the carriage which are indicated by the reference numerals 2 and 3 respectively. Each of these trolleys comprises a plurality of supporting wheels running on the lower rail flange and guide wheels engageable with the rail web, these wheels not being shown in detail.

The two trolleys 2 and 3 are secured by means of vertical pivot bolts 4 and 5 to a connecting beam 6 of the carriage, the trolleys being spaced apart longitudinally of the beam. The connections between the trolleys 2 and 3 and the connecting beam 6 are moreover designed, in a known manner not here specifically illustrated, in such a way as to allow tilting movements of the trolleys 2, 3 relative to the connecting beam 6 in the direction of the length of the rail 1.

At the end of the connecting beam 6 situated in the region of the trolley 2 there is provided a laterally projecting boom 7 which is rigidly secured to the connecting beam 6 and whereon is mounted a traction arm 8 to be engaged by the traction element 9 with the aid of a traction arm blade 10, the plane of the latter containing the longitudinal axis of the traction element 9.

The traction arm 8 is mounted on a traction arm support member 11 which is connected to the laterally projecting boom 7 by means of a vertical pivot bolt 12. This vertical pivot bolt 12 is arranged at the outer end of the laterally projecting boom 7. The longitudinal axis of the pivot bolt 12 is arranged so as to extend through the traction element 9. In this way the traction arm 8 is rotatable, together with the traction arm support member 11 about a vertical axis which extends through the traction element 9. The rotary movement of the traction arm 8 about its axis of rotation can, therefore, not be affected by any forces acting in the longitudinal direction of the traction element 9. Consequently the traction arm 8, subject to the guide forces applied to the traction arm blade 10 will always automatically adjust its position in such a manner that the blade 10 will pass smoothly and perfectly into and through the traction element guides which are not here specifically illustrated.

In the illustrated embodiments of the invention additional motion transmitting means are provided between the traction arm support member 11 and the trolley 2, whereby the rotary movements of the traction arm 8 will be guided in such a way that the plane of the traction arm blade 10 will adjust itself parallel with the longitudinal axis of the adjacent trolley 2. In other words, rotation of the traction arm 8 by the guide forces acting on the blade 10 is here no longer necessary. Rather, the traction arm 8 will be appropriately rotated or pivoted by the trolley 2 which adapts to the course of the rail by its guide wheels.

In the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 the motion transmitting means comprise a link 14 secured by means of a vertical pivot bolt 13 to the boom 7 in the middle between the vertical pivot bolt 12 of the traction arm 8 and the vertical pivot bolt 4 of the trolley 2. The link 14 has both ends thereof formed with elongate holes 15, 16 situated equidistantly relative to the bolt 13 and wherein engage vertical bolts l7, 18 provided on the traction arm support member 11 and on a laterally projecting lug 19 of the trolley 2.

In the alternative example shown in FIG. 3 the motion transmitting means comprise a gear wheel 20 mounted rotatably on the boom 7 for rotation about a vertical bolt 21 in the middle between the vertical bolt 12 of the traction arm 8 and the vertical bolt 4 of the trolley 2. This gear wheel is meshingly engaged from both sides thereof by toothed segments 22, 23 provided respectively at the outwardly directed end of the extension lug 19 of the trolley 2 and at the end of the traction arm support member 11 which is directed towards the trolley 2.

We claim:

1. In a railway having a track, carriages supported on the track and a traction element extending longitudinally of the track at the position off-set laterally from the centre line of the track, the traction element being movable along the track to draw the carriages therealong,

a traction carriage comprising two track-engaging trolleys,

A connecting beam on which both trolleys are mounted for pivotal movement about respective vertical axes which are spaced longitudinally of the beam,

a boom rigid with the beam, projecting laterally therefrom and disposed adjacent to one of said trolleys,

and a traction arm which is mounted on the boom, is pivotable relative to the boom about a third vertical axis extending through the traction element, and is secured to the traction element, whereby the traction arm and boom collectively manintain the spacing of the traction element from a longitudinal axis of the carriage.

2. The structure claimed in claim 1 wherein there is connected between the traction arm and said one trolley motion-transmitting means for pivoting the arm relative to the boom through an angle equal to the angle through which said one trolley pivots relative to the beam when the carriage travels along a curved section of track, whereby that portion of the traction element which is secured to the arm is maintained parallel to a longitudinal axis of said one trolley.

3. The structure claimed in claim I wherein said one trolley is provided with a lug which projects laterally therefrom towards said third vertical axis,

said traction arm is rigidly-connected with a support member,

the support member is connected with the boom for pivotal movement relative thereto about said third vertical axis,

and said motion-transmitting means is connected between said lug and an end of "the support member which is adjacent to said one trolley.

4. The structure claimed in claim 3 wherein the motion transmitting means comprises a link mounted on the boom for pivotal movement relative thereto about a fourth vertical axis,

the fourth vertical axis is situated mid-way between the third vertical axis and the vertical axis of said one trolley,

the link defines elongate openings situated on opposite sides of the fourth vertical axis and spaced equally therefrom, and

said support member and said lug are provided with respective pins which engage in respective ones of said openings.

5. The structure claimed in claim 3 wherein the motion-transmitting means comprises a gear wheel mounted on the boom for rotation about a fourth vertical axis,

the fourth vertical axis is situated mid-way between the third vertical axis and the vertical axis of said one trolley,

and each of said lug and support member is provided with a toothed segment which meshes with said 

1. In a railway having a track, carriages supported on the track and a traction element extending longitudinally of the track at the position off-set laterally from the centre line of the track, the traction element being movable along the track to draw the carriages therealong, a traction carriage comprising two track-engaging trolleys, A connecting beam on which both trolleys are mounted for pivotal movement about respective vertical axes which are spaced longitudinally of the beam, a boom rigid with the beam, projecting laterally therefrom and disposed adjacent to one of said trolleys, and a traction arm which is mounted on the boom, is pivotable relative to the boom about a third vertical axis extending through the traction element, and is secured to the traction element, whereby the traction arm and boom collectively manintain the spacing of the traction element from a longitudinal axis of the carriage.
 2. The structure claimed in claim 1 wherein there is connected between the traction arm and said one trolley motion-transmitting means for pivoting the arm relative to the boom through an angle equal to the angle through which said one trolley pivots relative to the beam when the carriage travels along a curved section of track, whereby that portion of the traction element which is secured to the arm is maintained parallel to a longitudinal axis of said one trolley.
 3. The structure claimed in claim 1 wherein said one trolley is provided with a lug which projects laterally therefrom towards said third vertical axis, said traction arm is rigidly-connected with a support member, the support member is connected with the boom for pivotal movement relative thereto about said third vertical axis, and said motion-transmitting means is connected between said lug and an end of the support member which is adjacent to said one trolley.
 4. The structure claimed in claim 3 wherein the motion transmitting means comprises a link mounted on the boom for pivotal movement relative thereto about a fourth vertical axis, the fourth vertical axis is situated mid-way between the third vertical axis and the vertical axis of said one trolley, the link defines elongate openings situated on opposite sides of the fourth vertical axis and spaced equally therefrom, and said support member and said lug are provided with respective pins which engage in respective ones of said openings.
 5. The structure claimed in claim 3 wherein the motion-transmitting means comprises a gear wheel mounted on the boom for rotation about a fourth vertical axis, the fourth vertical axis is situated mid-way between the third vertical axis and the vertical axis of said one trolley, and each of said lug and support member is provided with a toothed segment which meshes with said gear wheel. 